FEATURE SOUTH PACIFIC back in CELEBRATING 20 YEARS
SOUTH PACI F IC REMEMBE R ED
LONG - HAU L S E L L I NG
It is almost 20 years since I first went to the South
adults-only Sanctuary Rarotonga, in the Cook Islands. • Air Pacific flights from Hong Kong to Fiji started last year (on Thursdays and Fridays) and there are new ex-Australia services with Jetstar and V-Australia. • Adrenalin Fiji has a new hot air balloon ride. • New Air New Zealand flights from Sydney to Rarotonga (Cook Islands) – the first one in July took off fully booked and future bookings are strong. • Te Vara Nui Cultural Village is a Cook Islands cultural village experience that lets visitors explore Polynesian stories, knowledge and heritage. • If your clients are music fans, the 2010 Samoa International Jazz and Blues Festival (November 12–14) features world-class jazz, blues and soul music all across Upolu Island, with musicians from Samoa and around the world. • Pacific Islands Trade & Invest and South Pacific Tourism Organisation is developing an online marketing campaign to drive tourism in the islands from October 2010. It is aimed at the lucrative backpacker market.
TOP SELLING TIPS... The South Pacific is the
perfect honeymoon destination
Many hotels will be able to
arrange a wedding There are some super-luxury
options including Pacific Resort, Aitutaki (Cook Islands) and Four Seasons, Bora Bora, (French Polynesia)
up dancing the night away with the locals. The South Pacific is a stunner and, as more airlines fly in to these islands, Paradise has become more that much more accessible.
WHAT’S NEW There are plenty of great new resorts opening across the islands including Fiji Orchid Resort, near Nadi, in what was Raymond Burr (Perry Mason’s) former house; Fiji’s Intercontinental Golf and Spa, on the Coral Coast; Tanoa Tusitala Hotel; and Galusina Village Resort, in Samoa; and the five-star,
TOURISM TALK Jane West, director of Tourism Fiji UK “Visitor arrivals from the UK and Ireland are currently up
19 per cent for the year so far and bookings for winter 2010/2011 are looking positive. UK visitors don’t need to obtain a visa and the water is
www.sellinglonghaul.com • September 2010 19
Pacific and it’s been calling me back ever since. On the early morning ride from Apia airport into town I asked the driver what changes there had been over the years. He thought about this for a long time and then said, “Did you see we put a fountain in front of the airport?” It wasn’t really a surprise –
these islands change very little. They have, though, developed tourism facilities with some truly wonderful hotels, spas, restaurants and water sport facilities. A few years ago, Fiji’s Denerau
Island, was little more than a small port and a mangrove swamp. Now it has numerous five-star resorts, a marina with great shops and restaurants and a golf course. The French Polynesian islands
have fabulous over-water resorts on stilts over turquoise lagoons. Even little Tonga now boasts a
resort or two – when I first visited it had just one hotel, the Dateline.
199 B A C K
WWW.CMPHOTO.CO.NZ / CHRIS MCLENNAN
CHRIS MCLENNAN
KIRKLANDPHOTOS.COM
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